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Surreal Farber

The CNN series Black in America has been very interesting. Here's the latest installment. Food for thought.

Why many Americans prefer their Sundays segregated

Siobhan OFlynn

Catholic churches tend to be pretty mixed, at least down here in Florida. On any given Sunday at any given Mass, you'll see a real cross section of Gainesville. Black, white, Aisan and Hispanic. Everyone suffers equally when the priest with the unintelligble accent starts his 20 minute sermon.

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Beau Perkins

I have a cool church. Blacks, white, hispanics, a couple asians, we are a true melting pot. It's is a very cool thing to witness. Then again that is one of the things I like about the area I live in in general.

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Surreal Farber

Heh... Sleep is God and I worship as often as possible.
Sometimes alone and sometimes in the company of others.

Allana Dion

I've never heard that before.

Looking around my church, the largest percentage is white, but I'd guess that is because the largest percentage of the town I live in is white. But overall the congregation is pretty mixed and pretty accurately represents the surrounding community.

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Asher Bertrand

In a recent class I had, we had to immerse ourselves in a culture that wasn't our own. A lot of the students chose to go to a black church service. Someone said that when she and a few other students showed up, a black teen said a bit loudly, "What are they doing here?" People, in general, are creatures of habit and change scares a lot of us.

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Essence Lumin

This reminds me a lot of an experience I had in a gay bar many years ago.

I am not gay but (mostly in the past, the ones I frequented are gone) went to gay bars - I am straight but I don't go to bars to pick up people and have sex, just to have fun and talk. A coworker came in once that I didn't know too well. Maybe we talked a couple of times. The first time I saw him there we had a nice and short conversation as I recall (this was 15 years ago). The next time he shook my hand and it had whipped cream in it. I thought that was a little strange but then I thought it was really strange when he looked very hostile. I asked him what was wrong and he told me straight people would ruin gay bars.

I wasn't there with a girl, no one would even know if I was gay or straight without talking with me. But we never talked for the 10 years after that he worked with my company. Finally he got fired for reasons I don't know why but I wasn't sorry.

Siyu Suen

I for one enjoy my sundaes segregated

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I make masks and other things that I think are pretty.
They're over here -> at my masky shop thing

Essence Lumin

I like mine not so segregated - Mmm

Ten

My laundry is segregated. I'm a laundry racist.

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Xiomara Mendes

Had I received a similar assignment in college, I would have insisted I was already immersed in a culture that wasn't my own. If the professor persisted, I would have immersed myself in the local country club.

Joshua Nightshade

Black Baptist churches are far more interesting than any other ceremony.

Singing, dancing, holy-rolling, hell yeah.

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Merovigan

Black culture, and I think this is true of other cultures, is notoriously unwelcoming of outsiders. I've had the displeasure of being excluded and mocked for being white even though I'm technically half-black.

I'm not surprised you got this response at a black church nor am I surprised that the church in the original post is black - apparently in America white people have to make way for the minorities, not the other way round.

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...no, but really...how much respect or tolerance am I required to show the willfully ignorant?

Cindy Claveau

I think it makes a difference if the majority of the congregation is homogenous. The issue is probably much less who's attending service and more so who's in control of the church's budget, policies, and hiring.

At least in the Protestant churches I used to attend, the lay councils held all the power and some of their battles could be truly epic, even if behind the scenes.

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Eboni Khan

Being Catholic or Episcopalian outside of a major city means that you attend service in a mostly white church, at least that has been my life experience. The Episcopalian church my grandmother attended my whole life was all white except out family in the town we lived in. It was never really an issue.

I think in some churches, white members who might have higher income levels would be seen as a threat, because of their monetary contributions to the church. I will admit to being a little jaded because I think organized religion is mostly about gathering money and power, but in most churches those who contribute the most have the most input.

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Beau Perkins

I know most people only get to read about the crooked churches. Fact is most Churches are there to help the community. Most Churches mean well and poor most the money into the community. They just are not fun for our media to write about.

It is like everything in this world. We only hear about the negative stories. Our media is going for reactions and emotions.

Merovigan

There's two personal examples here and you're saying it's a media problem?

Come show up (a white guy) in a black church. Bring your family. I promise, it'll be interesting.

Shit, i can't even walk around with my white wife on my arm in some neighborhoods - we get looks that would knock stink off shit. But, right, this is all the media's fault.

Riiiight

Sarah Nerd

I had a father who changed churches a lot as we grew up. The one thing that remained the same in every church was that "church people" are generally the most judgmental people on the planet.

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Kristian

Poor white people don't usually attend the same churches are rich white people, either.

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Surreal Farber

It's predator pressure. Or that's what I call it when groups that have been traditionally descriminated against circle the wagons and are hostile to outsiders.

I had the pleasure of attending a black Methodist church as a child. One of my mother's friends belted out some powerful gospel and our family would go with her family to church. Lots of dancing and singing. If you're going to praise Jesus, then these folks had the right idea.

I think we were accepted first because we were sponsored by a member... and later because we were well behaved and respectful.

Merovigan

It's fairly ironic that, for some, the reaction to racism is racism.

Joshua Nightshade